Like That Vase on the TV? Click Your Phone to Buy It

By Andrew Adam Newman

March 17, 2014

ABOUT 87 percent of Americans watch television while using devices like smartphones and tablets, but most of that second-screen usage is unrelated to the show or movie, according to the NPD Group, a market research company.

Now, in what could signal a new era for product placement, Target will feature dozens of products on a new episode of “Cougar Town,” the TBS comedy series, and, at the moment the products appear on television screens, encourage viewers to purchase them on their second screens.

The episode that airs on Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern will be simulcast online, at ShopCougarTown.com. When viewers watching television see, say, a Target vase that they like on a mantle, they can look at the synced online version, where, by clicking a flashing red plus-sign character on the vase, they are taken to Target.com, where they can buy it.

After Tuesday, the full version of the episode with the products highlighted by flashing symbols will remain online through April 15 at TBS.com/Target. Clicking to shop pauses the video.

In a subplot of the episode, the character of Laurie (Busy Philipps) goes on a shopping spree at Target to redecorate her condo, and then quarrels with another character, Travis (Dan Byrd), over how the items should be arranged.

Rick Gomez, Target’s senior vice president of marketing, said the approach was a first for the company.

“It’s a combination of being a product integration that’s really integrated into the story line of the script, being on a major network, and with a unique shopping experience,” he said. “And that’s something we’ve never done before.”

While Target customers, whom Mr. Gomez described as digitally skilled, may be drawn to the novelty of the promotion, it also serves to present the home décor line in a flattering light.

“Our guests have told us that they’re looking for ideas to be inspired by and, along with this being a really innovative, technology-based way to help them shop, it’s also a way to inspire them,” he said. “Seeing the collection in context gives them ideas for how they can go and redecorate their own homes.”

“Cougar Town,” which stars Courteney Cox and is now in its fifth season, jumped to TBS from ABC after its third season. In another integration deal with Target in the fourth season, two male characters while away hours in one of the stores.

Frank Sgrizzi, an executive vice president of Turner Entertainment who oversees advertising sales for TBS and TNT, said “Cougar Town” aligns well with Target, which aims advertising to the same segment with whom the show is popular: women 18 to 49.

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Cynthia McCormac, the set director of “Cougar Town,” on the set with Nate Berkus, the designer of the products being sold.CreditJeremy Freeman/TBS

Mr. Sgrizzi said that because characters in the show seem like the type who would be fans of the store, it was “very organic” to incorporate it into the story line both last year and in Tuesday’s episode.

“We know that Target and ‘Cougar Town’ was a perfect marriage, so we weren’t worried about having Target as a character woven into the show,” he said. “These things would absolutely happen in episodes and wouldn’t seem like a stretch.”

Online videos promoting the effort feature Mr. Berkus, the designer, interviewing Cynthia McCormac, the show’s set decorator, on the set that now features his designs. The videos use the same technology as the online episode, with as many as five red icons flashing over click-to-buy items in the frame at once.

Target, which declined to reveal its spending on the promotion, spent $464.3 million on advertising in the first nine months of 2013 and $647 million for the full year of 2012, according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP.

After its security network was hacked last year, Target confirmed that credit and debit card information for 40 million shoppers at its physical stores had been compromised.

Jeff Greenfield, co-founder of C3 Metrics, an advertising analytics company, and publisher of the former publication Branded Entertainment Monthly, said that for fans of the show, seeing beloved characters with Target bags could help assuage concerns about the breach.

“One of the best ways that a brand can get the concept out there that it’s safe is to have characters who people like demonstrate that the brand is safe by actually shopping there,” Mr. Greenfield said.

As for the click-to-buy execution, Mr. Greenfield reviewed the online videos featuring Mr. Berkus on the set, and found the flashing red icons problematic.

“If you could just hover over an item with your mouse to buy it, that would be pretty cool,” Mr. Greenfield said. “But the plus signs are everywhere, and they grab your eye and it’s going to be very irritating to people watching the show in replay.”

Mr. Berkus, who had not yet seen the episode when interviewed by telephone last week, said that his collection was intentionally versatile.

“I’m not trying to be the modern guy or the well-traveled guy, and the whole sort of point behind the collection at Target is that it’s constantly refreshed and meant to be used with what you already have,” he said.

While Mr. Berkus happens to be a fan of the show and is friends with Busy Phillips, whose character spruces up her condo with his designs, he said the integration could have worked with many shows.

“It could be incorporated into almost anything — short of a period piece,” Mr. Berkus said. “I don’t think it would be appropriate in ‘Downton Abbey.’ ”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B6 of the New York edition with the headline: Like That Vase on the TV? Click Your Phone to Buy It. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe